Portugal and Brazil progress
442 Staff - Friday 25 June 2010, 17:47
DURBAN -
Portugal secured a place in the
World Cup second round on Friday after an ugly 0-0 draw with
Brazil in a match with seven first-half bookings in which
cynicism and petulance triumphed over football.
The most highly-anticipated group
stage encounter was less
an exhibition of the beautiful game and more a reminder of their
1966 World Cup meeting when a 25-year-old Pele was kicked off
the park by the Portuguese defence.
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Brazil, who failed to score in a
World Cup group match for
the first time since they drew 0-0 with Spain in 1978, were
already assured of going through after victories in their first
two matches but the draw ensured they topped Group G.
Portugal needed a point to
guarantee a berth in the last 16
whatever result Ivory Coast managed against North Korea in the
other group match - which the African side won 3-0 - and
secured it with a largely defensive performance.
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"Today's the day to celebrate the
fact that Portugal have
qualified with a great deal of merit," said Portugal coach
Carlos Queiroz, who celebrated with high fives at the final
whistle. "It was a just result."
SARTING RUNS
Cristiano Ronaldo managed a few
darting runs at the
Brazilian defence but was mostly an isolated, pouting figure and
his solo attacks were mostly neutralised by the imposing Lucio.
Brazil, without the suspended Kaka
and rested Robinho,
displayed no shortage of muscle themselves and dominated
possession for large parts of the match only to run into
cul-de-sacs, or foul play, in the last third of the pitch.
"It was a difficult game," said
Brazil coach Dunga. "The
Portuguese team defended from the midfield backwards which made
it very difficult to penetrate their defence. It was a very
tough game right until the very end.
"There were quite a few fouls
committed that made it
difficult for us. But we had three or four goalscoring
opportunities."
Three
backflicks in the first 12 minutes had pointed to the
feast of football the noisy and colourful 62,000 crowd had come
to see but their hopes were soon blown away in a flurry of
yellow cards.
Brazil striker
Luis Fabiano had already gone into the book
for a challenge on Pepe when his team mate Juan, aware that
Ronaldo was sprinting through, used his hand to stop the ball.
Three Portuguese players raced
over to suggest the referee
book the Brazil defender, which Mexico's Benito Archundia duly
did before turning the card to Portugal's Duda for the protests.
NASTY STAMP
The tone was set for another four
cautions before halftime,
including one for Portugal playmaker Tiago who dived in the box.
Brazilian-born Pepe, returning to
the Portugal side after
injury, was next in the book after 40 minutes for what appeared
to be a nasty stamp on Felipe Melo, who returned the favour with
a crushing body check three minutes later.
Both were booked but Dunga
substituted his midfielder to
prevent the vendetta escalating.
The best of the few chances of the
half fell to Nilmar, who
ghosted in behind the Portuguese defence to get on the end of
Luis Fabiano's cross only for goalkeeper Eduardo to deflect his
shot onto the post.
With the
draw enough to meet the needs of both teams, some
of the niggle disappeared from the game in the second half and,
when the pacy Simao Sabrosa joined Ronaldo up front, Portugal
grew into more of a threat.
A
Ronaldo foray on the hour nearly produced a goal, a loose
ball running to Raul Meireles who chose the outside of his
natural right foot rather than his left to shoot and watched as
Julio Cesar bravely saved his effort from about eight metres.
The Brazilians, hectored by an
apoplectic Dunga from the
sidelines, continued to press forward but Ramires's deflected
shot in stoppage time was the only one to trouble Eduardo.
Five minutes of stoppage time was
more than most in the
stadium wanted and, when the final whistle blew, the teams
trooped off the pitch to a chorus of boos.
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